The alliance of Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi has announced ambitious plans to produce a range of new electric, autonomous and robotic vehicles using shared platforms.

As part of its Alliance 2022 plan, the brands will launch 12 new electric cars, 40 autonomous-capable cars and ‘robo-vehicles’ for ride-hailing services. The models will be built using co-developed parts and underpinnings.

The companies will jointly invest €10 billion (£8.9bn) to the cause, which targets the sale of nine million cars (all based on just four common platforms) by 2022.

Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance CEO Carlos Ghosn said: “Today marks a new milestone for our member companies. By the end of our strategic plan Alliance 2022, we aim to double our annual synergies to €10bn.

“To achieve this target, on one side Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi will accelerate collaboration on common platforms, powertrains and next-generation electric, autonomous and connected technologies.

“From the other side, synergies will be enhanced by our growing scale. Our total annual sales are forecast to exceed 14m units, generating revenues expected at $240bn by the end of the plan.”

The alliance was first formed in 1999 by Renault and Nissan. It acquired Mitsubishi in 2016 following revelations that Mitsubishi had been falsifying fuel economy data for 25 years.

Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi recently overtook the Volkswagen Group to become the world’s biggest car maker with the most deliveries recorded in the first half of 2017. It delivered 5.27m cars over the period to Volkswagen's 5.156m.